On the complexity of classical guitar playing: functional adaptations to task constraints.

Full Abstract

The authors performed a behavioral study of the complexity of left-hand finger movements in classical guitar playing. Six professional guitarists played movement sequences in a fixed tempo. Left-hand finger movements were recorded in 3 dimensions, and the guitar sound was recorded synchronously. Assuming that performers prefer to avoid extreme joint angles when moving, the authors hypothesized 3 complexity factors. The results showed differential effects of the complexity factors on the performance measures and on participants' judgments of complexity. The results demonstrated that keeping the joints in the middle of their range is an important principle in guitar playing, and players exploit the available tolerance in timing and placement of the left-hand fingers to control the acoustic output variability.

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Author information

Author/s: Heijink, Hank (H); Meulenbroek, Ruud G J (RG);

Affiliation: Nijmegen Institute for Cognition and Information, University of Nijmegen, PO Box 9104, 6500 HE, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. heijink(-atsign-)nici.kun.nl

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Journal of motor behavior (J Mot Behav), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Dec; vol 34 (issue 4) : pp 339-51

Dates: Created 2002/11/26; Completed 2003/03/21; Revised 2004/11/17;

PMID: 12446249, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adaptation, Physiological
Adult
Fingers - physiology
Humans
Male

Motor Skills - physiology
Movement - physiology
Music
Occupations
Posture - physiology

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